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A new branch of public diplomacy – “pedagogical” – is being actively developed by one of the winners of the 1st International Competition “Leader of Public Diplomacy” Vahan Sahakyan. He is a teacher of Russian language and literature at the V. Jinishyan Tekheniki secondary school Kotayk region of the Republic of Armenia.
Vahan Sahakyan became the laureate of the competition in 2022 with his work on the topic “Pedagogical Diplomacy”. The specialist Russian language highlighted one of the most pressing and important, in his opinion, problems for teachers of the Russian language and literature in the CIS regions - inequality in teacher education. The teacher suggested a possible option for starting to solve this problem - through the model of the “Conversation Club of Russian Language Teachers”.
Vagan also spoke at the International Youth Forum of Public Diplomacy InterYes 3.0. Using his project as the example, he shared his experience of how pedagogy can be an effective tool of public diplomacy. The forum had more than a hundred English-speaking participants aged 18 to 30 from the BRICS+ countries.
Demonstrating an excellent knowledge of the Russian language, Vahan Sahakyan became the winner of the International Competition “Teacher and His Students in the CIS” on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Konstantin Ushinsky, as well as a finalist and vice-winner of the I International Pedagogical Olympiad in the Russian Language 2023.
The specialist in Russian language is sure that the state begins with education. He uses every opportunity to make the level of the Russian language equally high throughout Armenia: be it a rural school or a city gymnasium. “I am for equality in the education system and want quality education to be available to everyone! And for my part I do everything to implement this idea. And the Russian language serves as the key to accomplishing this task, because all my international projects are carried out using the Russian language!” says Sahakyan.
Together with other creative teachers - Kamo Filiposyan and Marat Hayrapetyan - the Russian language specialist showed the work of pedagogical diplomacy in practice, making presentations at the international round table “The Role of Public Diplomacy in the Development of Russian-Armenian Relations”, which became a continuation of the International Project “Leader of Public Diplomacy”. The organizers and experts of the dialogue platform under the leadership of the First Deputy Secretary General - Head of the General Secretariat of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly, Chairman of the Council of the Assembly of Peoples of Russia Svetlana Smirnova noted that participation in the "Leader of Public Diplomacy" competition gives its laureates a serious impetus to promote their projects at the international level.
“I am glad that thanks to my efforts, a new branch in the development of public diplomacy has emerged - pedagogical diplomacy, for me it means the project activities of teachers aimed at developing the interests of the foreign and domestic policies of the state,” notes Vahan Sahakyan.
Natalia Zabolotskikh, First Deputy Head of the General Secretariat of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly, coordinator of the international competition “Leader of Public Diplomacy”: “It is a joy to see the success of the participants and laureates of the International competition “Leader of Public Diplomacy.” They not only responsibly bear the status of people's diplomats, but, most importantly, even after the competition they continue to launch processes of interaction between people of different countries. Their projects and programs allow us to avoid isolation and bring real benefits to the international community. Vahan Sahakyan’s project is also a completely new interpretation of public diplomacy – pedagogical. For us - for the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly - it is important that the competition became an impetus for many endeavors and provided support to people and projects from different countries of the world. The main thing in public diplomacy is the people.”
Since 2022, the “Leader of Public Diplomacy” competition has been held by the All-Russian public organization “Assembly of the Peoples of Russia” with the participation of the International Union of Non-Governmental Organizations “Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly” and the support of the Presidential Grants Foundation.
Using RG materials